Commonly, stoves are configured for use with gas or electric burners exposed through openings in the top cooking plate. A more recent innovation involves "smooth top" stoves, i.e., stoves having electric burners mounted beneath an imperforate, substantially flat cooking plate made of special, high-temperature glass.
Irrespective of the specific type of burner and configuration of the cooking plate, it is common to mount the cooking plate to the supporting stove structure by means of some type of frame. At the least, the frame covers and masks the edges of the stove structure and the cooking plate and provides a finished product of attractive appearance.
One approach to cooking plate mounting is disclosed in German patent document DE 31 26 013 C2. Such document discloses a substantially flat cooking plate which is made of glass ceramic and which adheres to a frame. During manufacture, portions of the frame are coated with silicone adhesive and the cooking plate is then placed against the adhesive. Excess adhesive is displaced by plate placement and after a predetermined hardening time, the plate and the frame adhere firmly to one another. The resulting assembly can be handled as a unitary structure.
While such cooking plate mounting arrangements have been generally satisfactory, they are not without disadvantages. One disadvantage of the arrangement disclosed in the above-noted German patent document is that the excess adhesive that has been displaced during plate placement must then be removed during post-processing stages. This operation take time and translates into increased manufacturing cost and, of course, higher consumer prices.
A corollary disadvantage of the aforedescribed arrangement is that there is no way to prevent the excess adhesive from being displaced. The adhesive "oozes" unrestrained.
Another disadvantage of the arrangement disclosed in the above-noted German patent document is that proper positioning of the plate and the frame to one another must be performed while the adhesive is hardening. Most desirably, a two-component, rapidly hardening adhesive is used and there is little time to make precise positioning adjustment. Nor, of course, is there any way to reliably retain alignment, once achieved and if achieved.
A new mounting support and related method which addresses shortcomings of the prior art would be a distinct technological advance in the art.